Stanford head coach David Shaw will try to keep the Pac-12 from going 0-3 in bowl games against the Big Ten when the Cardinal face Iowa on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. (Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press)

The Cardinal are all we have left to show those slug knockers from the Big Ten we can play smashmouth football and outtough, outsmart, outphysical and outplay a Midwest team that hangs its hat on getting down and dirty.

Stanford takes on Iowa in the Rose Bowl on Friday, and whether you’re a fan of the 11-2 Cardinal or not, you need to be firmly in their corner New Year’s Day.

This is about West Coast pride, which has taken quite the beating the past week or so as the Big Ten has rolled like Sherman tanks into California and pancaked two of our Pac-12 representatives.

Now comes 12-1 Iowa, a bigger, better, smarter version of the Nebraska and Wisconsin teams that kicked UCLA and USC around at the Fosters Farms and Holiday bowls and took a big bite out of what we thought was a fair, even, formidable matchup between the Pac-12 and Big Ten.

It’s been as one-sided as a Holly Holm-Ronda Rousey fight.

The scary thing is, Iowa is decidedly better than Nebraska and Wisconsin. Although much like the Cornhuskers and Badgers, they go about their business so basically and quietly it’s easy to shrug your shoulders and snicker a little bit.

That would be a mistake, according to Stanford coach David Shaw.

“I (always) look and see what goes around in college football. That’s kind of what I do on Sunday mornings sometimes. What happened last night? What happened yesterday?” Shaw said. “And all year, you just watched Iowa find a way to win and no one said anything. Then you watch them again the next week, they found a way to win and no one says anything.

“They have a great defensive performance and a great offensive performance and a great team performance, and they beat some good teams. And throughout the year, I think both of our teams gained a lot of momentum without a lot of fanfare.

“To me, that’s a sign of a well-coached team, but it’s also the sign of an unselfish team.”

But one so many of us overlooked. Kind of like the way USC and UCLA might have done Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Until they got slugged in the nose.

Basic, yes. But painful.

Here comes Iowa, packing a more vicious punch.

“So they don’t do a whole lot, but they’re extremely good at what they do,” Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey said. “And it works for them, obviously.”

Question is, does anyone from the Pac-12 know how to stick their hand in the ground and play tough, smart, physical football to counter what the Big Ten does?

UCLA certainly couldn’t do it against Nebraska — which won five regular-season games for goodness sake. The Cornhuskers made like a snow plow and pushed the Bruins all over Levi’s Stadium in the Fosters Farms Bowl, running over, through and around UCLA for 326 yards in a 37-29 win.

Upon leaving the stadium, there were more than a few murmurs of “just another soft team from the Pac-12” from the Nebraska faithful.

Ouch.

Clearly USC wasn’t up to the task against Wisconsin on Wednesday in the Holiday Bowl.

The Badgers rolled up their sleeves and went right at the Trojans, playing clean, smart, physical, mistake-free football that at times made USC look small and silly.

Like when Wisconsin linebacker Jack Cichy checked into the game in the third quarter and proceeded to sack USC quarterback Cody Kessler on three consecutive plays. The Badgers pushed the Trojans around to create gaping holes so Cichy could zip through on his way to Kessler.

You would think the Cardinal are the perfect bunch to end this madness.

They are tough where the Trojans are soft. Big where the Bruins are small. And we all know they don’t just let anyone into an academic institution like Stanford.

But after watching a couple of average Nebraska and Wisconsin teams take care of UCLA and USC, are we sure the Cardinal are up to the task?

At least we know they respect the Hawkeyes. Which should avert any surprises. Iowa has certainly got Stanford’s attention.

“Oh, you see a great Iowa defense,” McCaffrey said. “Lot of physical players. They’re fast, too, and they do their job well. They’re well coached and they’re extremely disciplined. You watch the tape, and that’s evident. For us, we know the challenge that we need to face, and we’re trying to match that.”

Said Shaw, when asked what stood out about the Hawkeyes on offense and defense:

“Well, I’ll give you one for each. Offensively, efficiency. I learned a long time ago that’s the number one thing you want to be on offense. You want to be efficient. Efficient in the running game, efficient in the passing game, efficient on third down, efficient in the red zone, and you win football games. Other people look at a bunch of other stats, but you see a methodical, efficient offense that takes advantage of what defense does. That’s what you see. Defensively, and I’m the son of a defensive coordinator, you see coordination. You see everybody being where they’re supposed to be. That’s how you keep the score down, that’s how you keep the big plays down. There is nobody out of position. Guys know their jobs and they do it full speed.”

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.